01-02-2007, 11:41 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Sadly, it has been going on for years. And, it DOES impact the Utah Lake fishery. They helped drop the spawning population way down in the fall, two years ago, when the big fish were congregated by the springs. The took out truckfuls to sell. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Then when the lake came back up, after the drought...and two years of poor spawning... there were not many prime spawning fish left. The first year there were so few small white bass that the walleye were starving. Almost all the ones you caught were skinny. Many of them died that winter.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Thankfully there was a good spawn the last two years and the white bass are coming back.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]NOBODY NEEDS THAT MANY WHITE BASS. There has never been a limit on them but maybe it is time to make one. I am going to propose a 20 fish limit at the RAC meeting in May. That will keep plenty of them in the lake for both the increasing number of REAL anglers, who like to catch them for sport, and for the big walleyes and catfish that rely on them as a major food source.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In the meantime, since there is no limit on white bass, those who harvest large quantities are not breaking any laws by keeping a lot of them. But, as many of us know, they ARE breaking laws by selling them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The only potential problem in getting DWR to put a limit on white bass is that they eat June Sucker fry. As long as DWR keeps wasting time, money and effort on trying to reestablish a population of June suckers, they are not likely to try to manage any predators that eat their darling suckerettes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Maybe we need more anglers to show up at the RAC meetings and let them know we want Utah Lake managed for fishing, not as either a fruitless sucker nursery or as a fish market for select groups.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Then when the lake came back up, after the drought...and two years of poor spawning... there were not many prime spawning fish left. The first year there were so few small white bass that the walleye were starving. Almost all the ones you caught were skinny. Many of them died that winter.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Thankfully there was a good spawn the last two years and the white bass are coming back.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]NOBODY NEEDS THAT MANY WHITE BASS. There has never been a limit on them but maybe it is time to make one. I am going to propose a 20 fish limit at the RAC meeting in May. That will keep plenty of them in the lake for both the increasing number of REAL anglers, who like to catch them for sport, and for the big walleyes and catfish that rely on them as a major food source.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In the meantime, since there is no limit on white bass, those who harvest large quantities are not breaking any laws by keeping a lot of them. But, as many of us know, they ARE breaking laws by selling them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The only potential problem in getting DWR to put a limit on white bass is that they eat June Sucker fry. As long as DWR keeps wasting time, money and effort on trying to reestablish a population of June suckers, they are not likely to try to manage any predators that eat their darling suckerettes.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Maybe we need more anglers to show up at the RAC meetings and let them know we want Utah Lake managed for fishing, not as either a fruitless sucker nursery or as a fish market for select groups.[/#0000ff]
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